I just want to say soething before I post the summary of this morning's practice... I have had a little more time to folow the local news around here (all sources) and I have to tell you... I don't know what training camp they're watching, but it isn't the Redskins. Nearly everything I reads is COMPLETELY wrong. I just don't understand it. When Ramsey looks good, they don't say anything. When he looks bad (like today) they say he looks good. One source listed the runnung backs and seemingly in order, with Chad Morton last on the list and saying he isn't getting many reps. Maybe they don't know his number, because I assure you, he's had as many or more touches than any of the other backs. Anyway... on with the report.

Practice was busy again today despite the badweather. Today is actually the first day that we have been rained on during the practice. I arrived early today (8:00am) to try and catch a few players as they came on to the field. I quickly found my new buddy Jake sitting onthe walkway out to the field and he informed me that today was Darnerian McCants birthday. So when Darnerian came out and tried to sneak down the back way, he had to come over when he heard us singing. FOX TV cme over and made us sing it again, but I just caught their 12:00 news and it wasn't on... so maybe at 6pm. Unfortunately for his birthday, Darnerian got an injury. He did not fnish practice but I did not see what happened.

I also met up with RedskinsFreak and we watched practice together. Thanks Steve, I enjoyed meeting the man behind the e-mails

Practice was unimpressive yet again today. After stretching and a few short non-contact drills, the team broke into some 7-0 drills. The offense ran quite a few plays and just were not in synch. There were a few highlights, like Cliff Russell making an acrobatic catch out of bounds, but for the most part, Ramsey just wasn't as sharp today. I don't know if it was his grip on the ball because of all the rain, but he was not spectacular.

Then they ran some 11 on 11. Kenny Watson busted a big run and continues to work hard every practice. There are a lot of people here that are under the impression that he's on the block and might be he odd man out with Ladell Betts, Chad Morton and Trung Canidate here too. But it won't be for a lack of trying. Everyone who tells me that kenny 'might get cut' follows it up with 'But I hope not'.

Matt Bowen struck again. He destroyed Patrick Johnson who appeared to be slightly shaken up on the play. While I'm sure that the media will find the bad in it, I've been watching Bowen almost exclusively when I'm watching the defense, and there was absolutely no intent. It looked to me like an accidental collision, but Bowen is a rock and definitely got the better of Patrick. Bowen just stood there while PJ tried to remember if he had picked up milk this morning. Lavar Arrington was jacked about it though, and whether the coaches liked it or not, #41 is endearing himself to both the fans and to the other members of the defense. When it's Tiki Barber getting scraped up from a Bowen smack... I'm sure all will be forgiven.

Ramsey through a badly thrown interception during this session, and their just wasn't a lot of fluidity once again. Even Laveranues Coles missed a ball today and I don't remember seeing him miss a ball that he should have caught yet in camp. Rob Johnson has tendinitis in his elbow? Good... because he needs some sort of excuse for why he is throwing so inconsistently. Gibran Hamdan did not get many reps today presumably because Johnson was held out of yesterday's practice and Hamdan got a lot of reps.

After some 11 on 11, they broke into some special teams drills. Bryan Barker and Bart Bartolomew took turns punting to Morton, Sean Dillard and Scott Cloman. Bartholomew is really pushing for a roster spot. He punted higher and longer than Barker once again today. All 3 return men looked good catching the ball with not a single bobble between them in 10+ kicks. Cloman was EXTREMELY noticeable today. He made 3 great catches including a hail mary type pass that he got up over everybody and pulled it down. Richmond Flowers was also back to his usual 'I don't drop passes' self with another good practice registered. This guy works hard and will take the place of someone like a Justin Skaggs that struggles to make the squad but that everybody loves.

The team then went back to 11 on 11 drills again but this time they moved the chains with the plays as opposed to just running the m continuously from the same line of scrimmage. Again Ramsey was a little off throwing two interceptions trying to force passes in. One of the INT's was a nice pick by Champ stepping in front of a would be completion and running back the ball for a TD. Perhaps the most incredible part of this play though was that Bailey was running right in front of me and I couldn't help but notice Chris Samuels in a dead sprint to try and catch Bailey. That's right... Samuels. To be honest with you, it actually looked like he might! Awesome... just awesome. He is an incredible specimen, in fact the whole line is.

He also had some great passes that he is really te only QB on the roster that would have had a hope of making the pass. I stress here... he was only off slightly and that's to be expected every now and agin with it being the first week of camp. His performance didn't hurt his attitude any though, as once again he stayed out on the field the longest signing autographs.

My last observation about practice is that despite being sloppy, it was tenacious. Things got pretty heated on one particular play and afight broke out. Unfortunately, the huge huddle around the combatants made it impossible to tell who they were, but it was more than just a shoving match. Lavar actually was the first one into the huddle to break it all up (from the sideline, he didn't practice today). It's nice to see some fire in their bellies in my opinion.

That's a wrap for this morning... I've only got a couple left before I head back to Canada... that is unless someone has a guest house and a private jet that I can fly back in at the end of camp.

Last edited by BossHog on Tue Aug 05, 2003 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, I read a report this morning when scanning news that said "Journeyman Jermaine Haley continued to start alongside Brandon Noble" yesterday--but other reports said he missed practice due to a sore throat. Way to go through the motions, guy!

Bravo, Boss. I went up to Carlisle the past two seasons and reported back for my brother fans.

It troubled me that some pretty big name reporters for some first rate outfits got things wrong so frequently. And while I realize that there are subjective elements to watching football, it bugged me that they would focus on their favorites while seemingly ignoring the good camp that kids like Kenny Watkins, for example, was having (he's now with the Patriots).

I think the reporters pool their notes and every outlet ends up with a homogenized product. That's one reason why it's great to get reports from fans who witnessed what's happened on the field.

I'll pool some of your questions into one post, I apologize if any of you ask questions and don't get a response, but with 5 hours of practice a day, an hour of travel back and forth, a couple of hours doing up reports a day... ther's barely enough time to have lunch and dinner, let alone answer everyone's questions. I promise that when I get back from camp, i will start a thread where you can ask me anything you want about my observations and I will do my best to get to them all.

It troubled me that some pretty big name reporters for some first rate outfits got things wrong so frequently. And while I realize that there are subjective elements to watching football, it bugged me that they would focus on their favorites while seemingly ignoring the good camp that kids like Kenny Watkins, for example, was having (he's now with the Patriots).

I totally agree. They make name errors and they also seem to make reports based on what they know of a player, not based on observation.

Any comments on the loss of "Big Daddy", seems like a big loss being taken "lightly"

Nobody is talking specifically about the loss of Big Daddy but nearly everyone says that it is our 'biggest weakness'. I haven't seen enough of Haley to comment on his ability, but I do think that Brandon Noble has looked good. I think that we're going to have to look to our primo LB corps to help compensate for the DT's myself. I'd almost like to see Wynn move back inside myself and try Upshaw at the other end if it looks like Bruce still has what it takes to be ab every down player. I'd at least like to see us throw that formation at teams in 3rd and long situations. LaDairis Jackson has been injured so he haven't been able to determine what kind of role that he could play.

You said Lavar got "jacked up" by Bowens hit. What do you mean by that. As in "pumped up", or "pissed off"?

Pumped up... forgive my Canadian vernacular.

Lavar is like us fans... he just loves to see football played in it's purest form. When he was interviewed today, he was asked about being the first one into the middle of this morning's skirmish, he basically said that he couldn't have a tussle go on that he wasn't a part of. Gotta love it.